Mechanisms of human cytomegalovirus infection with a focus on epidermal growth factor receptor interactions

Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Divisão de Doenças Infecciosas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Laboratório de Virologia e Biologia Molecular. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil.Federal University of Pará. School of Dentistry. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology. Belém, PA, Brazil / University of São Paulo. Institute of Biomedical Sciences. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. São Paulo, SP, Brazil.Pará State University. Center for Biological Sciences and Health. Belém, PA, Brazil.Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Divisão de Doenças Infecciosas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil / Pará State University. Center for Biological Sciences and Health. Belém, PA, Brazil / Federal University of Pará. Tropical Medicine Center. Division of Infectious Diseases. Belém, PA, Brazil.Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread opportunistic herpesvirus that causes severe diseases in immunocompromised individuals. It has a high prevalence worldwide that is linked with socioeconomic factors. Similar to other herpesviruses, HCMV has the ability to establish lifelong persistence and latent infection following primary exposure. HCMV infects a broad range of cell types. This broad tropism suggests that it may use multiple receptors for host cell entry. The identification of receptors used by HCMV is essential for understanding viral pathogenesis, because these receptors mediate the early events necessary for infection. Many cell surface components have been identified as virus receptors, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is characterized by tyrosine kinase activity and plays a crucial role in the control of key cellular transduction pathways. EGFR is essential for HCMV binding, signaling, and host cell entry. This review focuses on HCMV infection via EGFR on different cell types and its implications for the cellular environment, viral persistence, and infection